10 Impossible Things I Did In 2011

We’re a few days out from the New Year. While there’s nothing really special about the new year, but it’s a nice arbitrary way to look back on what you’ve done the past 365 days. I’ve been looking through old blog posts and journals from the last year and it’s been a little bit of a crazy ride as I go through and knock some things off the impossible list. Here are 10 impossible things I did in 2011.

10 Impossible Things I Did In 2011

I ran a freaking marathon with my buddy James. It still doesn’t seem like I actually did it. 26.2 miles barefoot (well Vibrams). It still seems really surreal. I don’t think I could walk normally for a week afterwards, but it was so cool to decide to do something I literally didn’t think I could do, train for 18 weeks and actually do it and make it happen. One of the most painful things I’ve ever done, but so worth it and I’m very glad it’s over – as you might be able to guess from the photos.

I Quit My Job

I quit my job. BOOM. I was making a good salary, working with good people and showing up at 10pm. It was pretty comfortable. But I’m on an unending quest to be be comfortable with the uncomfortable. So I moved to another state and started a new job. Lots of things have come from that decision, but it’s been an experience that has pushed me and stretched me personally to think completely different about business and life than I did just 6 months ago.

I got to hang out with Nate Damm and my brother for 2 weeks driving across the country, sleeping in a car, and sneaking into national parks. It was awesome. Here are a few of the places we made it to in those 14 or so days.

St. Louis

Mt. Rushmore

Yellowstone National Park

Glacier National Park

Seattle

Portland

Tahoe

Las Vegas

The Grand Canyon

Denver

This road trip took me places I’ve never been before and there are so many stories from this trip that I never got the chance to share. International travel has been a huge part of my life in the last 5 years, but this trip made me realize how much there is to explore in my own backyard. I’ll be doing a lot more of this in the near future.

I Took 41 People Skydiving

We took a break from driving when we got to portland and took 41 people skydiving. This was a heck of an adventure that sort of came out of no where. Last year on a whim I decided I was going to go skydiving at WDS. I asked if anyone wanted to come. I thought that I might convince 5 or so people to come. 63 people wanted more information. 41 actually paid and said they’d show up.

What?

Organizing a skydiving adventure 45 minutes outside a city you’ve never been, from halfway across the country is no small task, but somehow it all went off without a hitch. 41 people did something impossible, faced their fears and most importantly – NO ONE DIED. That’s a win, if I’ve ever heard of one (even if my jump did make me look completely stupid).

Off of it, we’ve been able to launch 3 initiatives so far (a community, a manifesto, and a shirt). Moving forward, HQ will even more important and I’m really happy to have finalized and live, and having a platform to do even bigger things here in 2012.

I Spoke at a University (Twice!)

University of Wisconsin Superior asked me to talk to their freshman year seminar class on living life differently. This was my first “talk” and I didn’t really know what to expect, especially since I was going to be presenting over skype. They put my big ugly mug up on the projection screen and I thought I spent most of the time doing what I thought was rambling. Apparently, they liked me enough to ask me back. That’s a good thing, right?

Anyways, apparently it had enough of an impact to where they all ended up getting impossible shirts and wore it during their final presentation. I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t pretty freaking awesome.

I ran a half-ironman? 70.3 Miles. 1.2 mile swim. 56 mile bike ride. 13.1 mile run. It’s starting to sound cliche when I say this, but I really didn’t know if I could actually do this when I set out to do it. I learned a lot flying down to Miami, shipping my bike, and narrowly avoiding a hurricane in order to finish out the 70.3 miles and do this. I’m finally starting to process that I actually did this this year and that it wasn’t just some dream I had. Crazy.

I finally launched it. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can download IMPOSSIBLE for free. This might not sound like a big deal, but it took me entirely way too long to knock this out (just ask Nate Damm). I finally finished it and it was so worth it. It’s not perfect, but even so, it’s been able to reach several thousand people. I’ve gotten countless emails and comments about it and it’s really been fun to create something that can be passed around from friend to friend and impact people on a continual basis.

In the next few weeks, we’ll be making the audience even wider and will be releasing a kindle and an ePub version, so if you have an e-reader device of some sort, be on the lookout for it.

I Left My Job Again(This is new!)

I actually haven’t announced it around here but as of the a few weeks ago, I left my last job.First realization: I HAVE SO MUCH TIME. Somewhere between working a 40 hour/week job, running an impossible blog, and a few other fun projects while training for marathons and Half-Ironmans, it gets hard to find time for everything. Now with an extra 40 hours/week, it will be interesting to see what I can make happen (stay tuned).

I 10Xed the Size of Blog

Every once in a while, I’ll look back at my numbers and sort of get a MEH face. If you look at the numbers on a day to day basis, you never get anything done and it’s hard to stay motivated because it’s hard to spot small changes over a short period of time. However, if I step back and look at those small changes over time – they add up – A LOT. The benchmarks have changed completely since last year.

Looking back it seems like I did a lot of things this year (I really did!), but none of them just happened. There were a lot of little steps. A lot of 3 miles runs. A lot of workouts when I didn’t want to do or when it wasn’t convenient. They didn’t happen just ’cause I sat around and waited for them to happen. They happened because I focused on doing something consistently over time. Do. Launch. Learn. Repeat.

2011 was a hell of a year. 2012 has a lot to live up to…but I love a good challenge and have a lot of things slated here for the new year to get us off on the right foot.

I know from the League, and from all the messages I’ve gotten that I’m not the only one who’s done some impossible things this year. I want to know: What impossible things did you do in 2011? Let me know in the comments.

If you haven’t yet, check out my guest post “The $100 Sandbox” at my good friend Sean Ogle’s site – Location180. Sean was one of the first people I read that made me realize that everything wasn’t so impossible and it’s pretty cool to be able to write something for him these days. Have a great New Years!

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Comments

Hey Joel,
Great wrap-up and what a year! I’m so glad I stumbled across TIL and this blog a few months ago. What you did this year (especially the physical challenges, 70+ miles is MENTAL) is absolutely huge and you’ve also inspired loads of other people to get on board and start doing exciting stuff. Keep it up.

I had a good year: learnt to scuba dive, started a blog writing about what I love (languages), launched my first self-published book, went paragliding, kayaking, cave-climbing and jetboating in NZ, dived in Thailand, visited the Alhambra and practiced Spanish in Spain, adopted a cat, got my first location-independent contract, and helped 4 entrepreneurs on Kiva. Deep breath. The best part is, I plan to do WAY more next year.

Hey Joel!
Wish I could come down tomorrow evening to Rockit and meet you in person! Alas, we have company in town and will be hanging out with them and all of our shorties. Have a great time!! Looking forward to all the impossible things in 2012!

Hi Joel, what a fantastic inspiring year you’ve had, I am looking forward to seeing/hearing about next years adventures. As for me, well I had to start somewhere, and it was just one event for me, I and 7 friends, planned & organised a bike ride in aid of Childrens Cancer Charity CLIC Sargent that took us from the most Northernly tip of Great Briton to the most Southernly point, a distance of 986 miles on the route we took. I learnt many things about myself, my friends and my family durin the 13 day ride, that maybe some day I’ll write down and share a little wider. Keep up the great work.
Ian

Thanks for all the information, inspiration and entertainment from your blogs in 2011! For me 2011 included trips to Ecuador, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad. Learned to fly and got a FAA type rating in a DC-3. After after reading about your skydiving at WDS, I took some training and received a skydiving license in December 2011.

Joel — one word (the word I usually use with you) — Aweseome! You should be extremely proud of your accomplishments! You are the king of the impossible! I can’t wait to see what you cross off your impossible list this year! Take care and we’ll be in touch soon!

Just found your blog today, fantastic! 2011- Moved to CA, started a new business, lost 30 lbs, we had a baby girl. 2012- even more amazing. Keep up the good work, I look forward to reading more. -Chris

Hey Joel,
Great wrap-up and what a year! I’m so glad I stumbled across TIL and this blog a few months ago. What you did this year (especially the physical challenges, 70+ miles is MENTAL) is absolutely huge and you’ve also inspired loads of other people to get on board and start doing exciting stuff. Keep it up.
I had a good year: learnt to scuba dive, started a blog writing about what I love (languages), launched my first self-published book, went paragliding, kayaking, cave-climbing and jetboating in NZ, dived in Thailand, visited the Alhambra and practiced Spanish in Spain, adopted a cat, got my first location-independent contract, and helped 4 entrepreneurs on Kiva. Deep breath. The best part is, I plan to do WAY more next year.
Thanks and keep it up!
Tristan

Trackbacks

[…] 2011 was a heckuva year. I did some things I never thought I’d be able to do and started down a road I never really planned on going. It was a little crazy to look back on the last 12 months and see what happened. But the past is the past and the only thing that matters is now. What are you going to do now? 2012 just started and you’ve got a whole new year to do something impossible. Here are some of the impossible things I’m planning for 2012 […]

[…] of them. We’ve got a bunch of pictures of people doing some impossible things, and even had a university class order them for their final presentations. When I made them, I figured I’d sell a few, but it’s gone over much, much better than […]

[…] of them. We’ve got a bunch of pictures of people doing some impossible things, and even had a university class order them for their final presentations. When I made them, I figured I’d sell a few, but it’s gone over much, much better than […]

[…] 2011 was a heckuva year. I did some things I never thought I’d be able to do and started down a road I never really planned on going. It was a little crazy to look back on the last 12 months and see what happened. But the past is the past and the only thing that matters is now. What are you going to do now? 2012 just started and you’ve got a whole new year to do something impossible. Here are some of the impossible things I’m planning for 2012 […]